Letter: In support of Rotter, Anderson, Gualdoni

Uwe Rotter has come under attack for getting much-needed information out to the public. This is something he would have issued whether or not he was currently running for tax assessor. The only way the public is paying for it is by paying his salary for doing his job.

In December, we went before the Tax Assessment Board to fight a ridiculously high valuation of our house. Paula wrote to them before the meeting and also filed a complaint online, listing houses in our neighborhood that were definitely worth more than ours but were valued for less. When we went before the board and tried to present photographs and addresses of the homes mentioned in our letter, they refused to look at the documentation. It turned out it had to be presented with her initial letter. This was just one thing about the complaint process that we didnâ€™t understand and which Uwe tried to help us with.

Uwe sat beside us at the meeting and went over information that the board presented. We found a glaring mistakeâ€” our house was listed as being partially wood sided, when it is entirely vinyl (something our neighbors need to look into if they havenâ€™t already, as it appears the entire neighborhood was mis-assessed). Uwe said heâ€™d come out to look at the house and if it was wrong heâ€™d have the assessment lowered. He was not afraid to contradict the board, nor when it said it was refusing to lower our assessment, to tell them they would have to if he found the siding was incorrect as listed in their records.

Uwe came out and did indeed find that the assessment needed to be lowered. He also stood outside with Paula, where she pointed out all the other vinyl-sided houses that may be mis-assessed and shook his head that this had even been allowed to happen.

For 15 years, weâ€™d been over assessed. He then spent almost two hours explaining how the assessment system works. He told her he was updating his website and also planning to hold monthly informational meetings so that people could come to him with their questions. He said it benefited everyone if what he had just explained to her over two hours could be presented to several homeowners at once, rather than just one at a time.

Uwe is very adamant about communication and fairness. What he has distributed to the public is information he feels is only fair for the public to have. If this increases his chances for election, then so be it. Itâ€™s an honest attempt to communicate and aide the public in the current atmosphere of over-taxation and distrust of public officials.

The bottom line is that Uwe isnâ€™t misusing his time or public money. Heâ€™s simply doing a job heâ€™s already in and for which heâ€™s responsible. He has saved our county money in many waysâ€”such as finding furniture for their offices from a company that was closing out their business, instead of buying all new, to the tune of about $30,000 in savings. We think heâ€™s an honest, earnest public servant and we want to see that heâ€™s given a chance to continue what heâ€™s started.

We would also like to say that Dave Andersonâ€™s enormous contributions over many years to the community give him tremendous background and experience to lead Elburn. Pat Romke is our neighbor. She is an outgoing, intelligent woman, who weâ€™re sure will bring strong ability to any job she takes on. But there is no getting around the background that Dave Anderson can bring to the office of Elburn Village President. Weâ€™ve counted him as a friend worth knowing over the years weâ€™ve lived here and have huge respect for what he can do for our town.

David Gualdoni, who is running for village trustee, has put in a lot of time volunteering for the benefit of the town he lives in. Heâ€™s a down-to-earth, honest guy who simply wants to now serve Elburn in a larger capacity. We think we need more people like David in village government to make sure it continues to have the quality that Elburn is known for. We think he will always put his town before any personal desires and work for the board with honesty and integrity.